Thursday, June 29, 2006

Thou shalt not lurk.

OK, so it's not a commandment from God. But it is a request from me.

I've been writing this blog for almost nine months now (can it be?) I've loved having this outlet to write about the serious things in my life, the less-than-serious things in my life, and to update anyone who cares on the progress of my beautiful children. Thank you, internet, for such a place! And thank you, Blogger, for making it free of charge!

I have written some personal things on this blog, and have no regrets about that. But I would like some feedback from you, my viewing public. I'm feeling a bit exposed. My statistics show there is a much greater readership of this blog than I'm receiving comments from (the rest of you are considered "lurkers" in the blog world). If you haven't commented, maybe it's because you're shy. Maybe you're technologically challenged. Maybe you don't find my blog that interesting, but don't want to write me a blunt comment saying, "Your blog stinks. I only read it for the cute pictures of the kids." Whatever the reason, a lot of my readers don't post comments.

I'm asking [begging?] everyone who reads this to post a quick comment to this post, just to ease my mind that there are people out there who care about my writing. If you're not comfortable with that, just send me a quick e-mail to teammeatblog@gmail.com. I won't bite. I promise. A girl just needs a little validation every once in awhile.

Instructions for posting a comment (there is no need to register or give out any personal information): Using your mouse, Click on this text or click on the link below that reads "X Comments" (X being the number of comments). Type the comment in the "Leave your Comment" box. Choose an identity (if you're not registered, select "other" and type in a name I will know you by - but don't include last names, please!) Type in the letters you see in a squiggly formation into the "Word Verification" box and click "Publish your comment." Easy as that!

Thanks to you, my reading audience. I've loved writing over the last nine months or so!

17 comments:

Mark said...

Surprise! I read your blog! Is it because it's good or because I love you! Ok... maybe both.

Jenny said...

Consider yourself validated!!

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog. It is a great way for us to keep up with what is going on with your family.

Kary said...

I read your blog. I got to it from Our Shady Tree. I just like glimpsing at other mom's lives. Thanks for writing!

Jennifer said...

You are not alone. Danny is feeling the same way. Have you seen his most recent post? It's hilarious but he's feeeling down himself. I have no idea how people get 5000 people commenting on their blogs. You know that I love yours. And for those who don't comment, assume that you've given them something that they need. When you open yourself up, you never know who might be touched. I am certain that you are touching a lot of people.

Anonymous said...

I usually lurk because I'm a perv...ummm...errrr...because I'm at work and don't have time to comment. Yeah, that's it.

Your blog is a good way to keep up with your family "goings ons", especially since Jennifer forbids me from talking to you on the phone. What a jealous wife I have!

At least you have the mommy-to-mommy thing going, which increases your traffic and comments. I got zilch. My reviews bring in some traffic from Google (need to write more of those), but no comments. My site traffic consists mostly of bots, spiders, crawlers and people looking for free MP3's. The podcast is a total flop.

I'm trying to shift my expectations to neutral and decide whether I blog and podcast because it makes me happy or because I want an audience. If it turns out to be more the latter, then I need to do more promotion. But do I really want to coerce people into visiting my site? Seems like it wouldn't be genuine interest then, and readership would eventually drop off again.

A friend of mine developed something you might want to try. It's a free Web-based utility called batBack (http://www.batback.net), and all you do is drop some code into your blog template and it puts a "rate me" button on each entry that lets people quickly rate your postings based on several different criteria. Metrics for each item are displayed in a graph, because everyone loves a pretty graph. It's designed to gather feedback from lurkers who are too busy or shy to leave comments.

the quists said...

You know that I check out your blog...and Jeremy does sometimes too. We love ya!!

Julie said...

I read, too!

Anonymous said...

What a great way to keep up with you, the kid-lets and Mark via this Blog. I think I'm the only Senior Citizen that reads one (yours) - Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

I think your blog is great! Now that I've met your kids, I enjoy it even more!

AMS said...

I really love reading your blog. It lets me know whats going on up in michigan from virginia.

Barb said...

wheeee!

ArtGeek said...

lurkidy lurk lurk. I like seeing what you and the kids are up to, lurk lurk, lurk...

from lurker mclurkerson, aka rob

Anonymous said...

Hi...I'm shy...Bye bye!

Anonymous said...

I read your blog because I have two boys also adopted - and I just like to see how other moms are doing. My kids are about the same age as yours - well close 4 and 1 and I can relate to things, and I love the kids photos.

Anonymous said...

de-lurking - as requested :)

Anonymous said...

I'm guilty of lurking. I love your blogs. I'll try to comment more. Angi